Chapter 2: The Kiss of Death

Kurisu Makise stopped writing.

She looked around the apartment living room. The curtains were thrown open to admit the morning light through the glass door that admitted entry to the balcony. The sink was empty, save for a couple of mugs that Rintaro had forgotten to wash before he and Mayuri went out. She could hear Itaru typing in the boys' room. Everything was perfectly normal.

She looked down. In front of her was Relativity: the Special and the General Theory, Albert Einstein's seminal work. Accompanying it was her notepad; she'd been taking down notes to prepare for the upcoming physics conference. She looked at the place in her notes where she'd left off. "Time moves differently for two observers in different positions…" — yes, that was where she had been. That was right.

But Kurisu couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Extremely wrong. She felt as though she had forgotten something, something important that happened recently. And her perfectly normal surroundings seemed off, as if she wasn't actually supposed to be there.

Shaking her head, she rose and went into the kitchenette. She pulled the kettle out of the coffee machine and poured the liquid into a glass beaker, which she took back to the table where she had been sitting. She picked her pencil back up and took a sip of coffee.

And nearly spit it out when the front door banged open.

She forcefully set her beaker down as Rintaro and Mayuri sprinted into the apartment. "What do you think you're —"

"We need to leave," Rintaro gasped.

Kurisu was about to scoff before she noticed that Rintaro's distress carried none of his customary overdramatic theatrics. Instead she said, "Slow down, Okabe. What exactly happened?"

As Rintaro caught his breath, Mayuri (seemingly unbothered by the run) chimed in: "We met a mad scientist on the street. Apparently he and Okarin saw something, but Mayushi didn't see it. I guess Okarin didn't like him that much though. Maybe it's because he looked a little scary. He had angry eyebrows and a funny accent."

"A mad scientist?" Kurisu repeated. "What exactly did he say?"

Rintaro finally stood up straight, and even after his exertion, his face was still pale. "He said he'd be in touch. I think…he might be with SERN."

That gave Kurisu pause. But she wasn't convinced just yet. "You think he might be?" Kurisu repeated again. "And just what makes you think that?"

"Time travel." Rintaro said. "I time-traveled again, Kurisu. Me and him."

There was a lot to take in at once. The fact that he hadn't called her "Christina" dispelled any of her doubts about how seriously he was taking this. The declaration that time travel had taken place was outrageous, but she could only take Rintaro's word for it. Except…

"Just a few minutes ago," said Kurisu, "I had this…feeling. That I was forgetting something that just happened, but I couldn't remember. Could that be—?"

Rintaro grabbed her shoulders. "That must be your Reading Steiner," he said, his voice rising. "It's nascent, but it's activating. You can tell that we've time traveled —"

"Assuming," she cut in, knocking his hands away while turning away to mask the slight flush on her face, "that you've actually time-traveled."

"I did. I promise you, it's true."

"How?" asked Kurisu. "We don't have the time-leap machine anymore."

"That I don't know," Rintaro admitted. "But this is my past. I've already lived through this day before."

"How far did you jump back?"

"A week — no, a few weeks. We were at the conference when —"

Rintaro trailed off. His face, already pale, became white as a sheet. His eyes were as wide as saucers, his mouth slightly agape.

"What?" said Kurisu, concern now coloring her tone. "Okabe, what is it?"

"We all died." Rintaro's voice was barely above a whisper. "We're all going to die." He chuckled, and the sound was very different from his chuunibyou fake evil laugh. "All of you are going to die…again. And I can't do anything."

"Okabe." This time it was Kurisu who grabbed his arm. "Tell me what's going on."

He jerked his arm away from her, but his eyes were distant, looking past her. "It's useless," he said hoarsely, walking past her and around the small coffee table where she had been working. "No matter where I run…it's useless." As he went past, Kurisu noticed something on the back of Rintaro's neck: a black splotch, almost like ink, but somehow moving, even pulsing.

"Okarin?" Kurisu didn't have to turn around to tell that Mayuri, who had been taking everything in stride thus far, was getting worried. "Where are you going?"

"No more," Rintaro muttered. "No more." He pulled open the glass sliding door and stepped onto the balcony.

Kurisu's eyes widened.

"Okabe!" she shouted, flying forward and grabbing Rintaro's torso as he began to clamber onto the balcony's railing. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Let go of me." The sheer calmness, even delight, with which Rintaro uttered the words only added to Kurisu's sudden terror. "I'm going to escape."

Before he could escape her grasp, however, Mayuri leapt at him and clasped his arm in a vice grip between her own. "Okarin, stop!" she cried, tears welling in her eyes. "You're scaring Mayushi!"

"Let go," Rintaro said in the same tone. "I'm ending this."

"No!" yelled Kurisu, as Rintaro wrenched free with unnatural strength and placed his hand on the railing —

BONG

Rintaro crumpled to the balcony floor. Kurisu and Mayuri whirled around to see Itaru holding a baking tray, his face grim.

"I was just getting to the end of my favorite girl's route," he complained. "What's going on?"

Kurisu took a deep breath. "I have no clue," she answered. "Help me get him onto the sofa."

She and Itaru worked together, with Mayuri watching closely. Kurisu turned Rintaro's unconscious body on its side so she could see the back of his neck; it was definitely moving, and it definitely wasn't ink. The more she stared at it, the more uncomfortable Kurisu felt.

"What do we do, Kurisu-chan?" Mayuri asked.

"We need to call an ambulance," Kurisu decided. "Daru —"

"I'm on it." Itaru left the room.

"Is the doctor going to help Okarin?" Mayuri's gaze was fixed on Rintaro's unconscious form, and the ominous black mark.

"I don't know," Kurisu admitted. "But it's the only thing I can think of that might —"

"Oh! That reminds Mayushi," said the other girl, her eyes lighting up as she turned to Kurisu. "The mad scientist called himself the Doctor. Maybe he might be able to help."

"Or," said Kurisu, the gears in her head turning, "he might have been the one who caused this in the first place."

"Y-you think so?"

"This 'Doctor.' Where is he now?" Kurisu asked.

"M-Mayushi doesn't know," Mayuri stammered. "We met him at Nozu crossing, but then he left. Mayushi doesn't know this city at all. He could be anywhere!"

"Hello!"

Their heads whipped toward the door.

"Sorry," said a tall, grey-haired man wearing sunglasses as he entered the apartment, "the door was open, so I just assumed. Is that the mad scientist?" He took off his sunglasses and walked closer. "D'you mind waking him up? I just want to ask him a couple things."

"That's him!" Mayuri exclaimed as Kurisu shot to her feet. "Hello, Mister Doctor! Tu-turu!"

The "Doctor" turned toward Mayuri and raised his eyebrows. "I don't know what you just did there," he replied, waving his hand in her direction, "but whatever it was, I'm against it." He turned back toward Rintaro, and found Kurisu standing right in front of him.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "What have you done to Okabe?"

The grey-haired man threw up his hands — as did the bald-headed man who entered the apartment immediately behind him.

"Nothing!" the grey-haired man hurriedly answered.

"Well, something," the bald man added. "But totally harmless."

"Nardole," the grey-haired man said through gritted teeth, "don't correct me."

"Sorry, sir."

"What. Did. You. Do?" Kurisu repeated slowly, taking a step with each word. The two men retreated with each step, still with their hands raised.

The grey-haired man sighed. "All right, all right," he said, dropping his hands (the man behind him did likewise), "I just put a little tracker on him, so I could find him later. That's all. How'd you know, anyway?"

"He almost tried to kill himself," Kurisu growled. "Why? What was your objective?"

Bushy grey eyebrows shot upward. "Tried to kill himself?" the older man repeated.

"That's what I said."

"…Let me see," said the grey-haired man. He pushed past her, despite her immediate protest, and crouched next to the sofa. He took one of Rintaro's hands and peeled something off his palm. "There," he announced, holding it up; it looked like some kind of adhesive computer chip. "I've taken off the tracker. I don't need it now, anyway, now that I've found him."

"So why did you try to get him killed?" Kurisu demanded further.

"I didn't!" the man insisted. "It's just a tracker! It's not meant to —"

He stopped, and his eyes widened. He lunged forward and shifted Rintaro's body; Kurisu almost cried out, but she saw him adjust Rintaro and inspect the dark blotch on the back of Rintaro's neck. He passed a finger over it, and his brow furrowed deeply.

He looked at Mayuri and Kurisu. "When did he get this?"

"I — I don't know," Kurisu answered. "I just noticed it today. I thought you had placed it, based on what they'd told me."

"I didn't." The man placed his sunglasses back on his face and tapped them on the side. They began to emit a whirring noise. "A black mark on the back of the neck," he muttered, "followed by imminent death. I don't like that."

"What are you doing?" Kurisu asked.

"I'm the Doctor," the man replied. "I'm doing a checkup. And your friend's caught a nasty bug."

"A bug?" Mayuri repeated. "So he is sick?"

"No," the man replied. "Not a bug like a sickness. A bug, like something's bitten him."

"What are you talking about?" said Kurisu.

The grey-haired man looked up at her. "You know when you get a mosquito bite?" he said. "The mosquito sucks your blood, but it also leaves saliva at the wound. That causes an allergic reaction, and your blood and skin swells. It's a similar thing here," he gestured at Rintaro, "except whatever bit your friend here is sucking on his positive emotions, and leaving something behind that's making his negative emotions swell." He stood up as he continued, "Normally, when your bug bite swells, you get itchy. And it's hard to resist an itch. But here, instead of an itch…it's suicide. Or at least, that's my guess."

"Your 'guess?'" Kurisu repeated.

"His guess is usually pretty good," the bald man interjected. "Usually."

"So what do we do?" Mayuri asked. "Can we put ointment on him?"

"No. No, there's no ointment…" The man trailed off, bending over to get a closer look at the mark on Rintaro's neck. "Oh. Now that's intriguing."

"What is?" asked Kurisu.

"It's not like a mosquito at all," said the grey-haired man. At Kurisu's exasperated expression, he continued, "It's making him 'itch,' but it's still feeding on him. Which means it's still connected."

"That sounds bad," said Itaru through a mouthful of sandwich.

"Yes," the man answered, "and no. Yes, because your friend is more vulnerable. No, because now I can track —" He turned around suddenly, a frown creasing his eyebrows. "When did you get here?"

"I've been here," Itaru simply replied. "I called an ambulance."

The man paused for a moment. Then he said, "You called an ambulance?"

"Yeah," said Itaru. "That's good, right?"

The grey-haired man sighed. "Yes," he replied, straightening up, "and no. Yes, because it means your friend won't die. Probably. No, because I have limited time before they take him away, and possibly sever the connection."

"Isn't it good to sever the connection?" Kurisu asked.

"No, no," the man responded. "I want to sever the connection."

"And why is that?" Kurisu pressed.

The man took off his glasses and fixed her with a severe gaze. "Because whatever is feeding on your friend is still lurking around here somewhere. And if I don't find that source, it'll feed on someone else — maybe even you. So!" — he started toward the door — "Nardole! Make sure he doesn't die."

"I've got to babysit?" the bald man complained. "You could at least let me have a little…" His voice trailed off as the older man presented him with the pair of sunglasses.

"Don't. Bend these. On your egg head," the older man ordered. The bald man took the glasses and held them reverently with two hands. "Find the exact frequency that's feeding on him, but don't disconnect it unless the medics come. If they do, disconnect it, and then put up with my complaints afterward."

"Yes, sir…" The bald man's assent was not entirely certain in his tone. Apparently satisfied, the grey-haired man pulled out a long blue device from his jacket pocket. He held it up, and it started to glow and emit a high whining sound. He started toward the door.

"Hang on!" Kurisu exclaimed. "Where are you going?"

"He's treating the wound," the man replied over his shoulder. "I'm going after the mosquito." With that, he exited the apartment and started up the stairs, not bothering to close the door.

"Well," the bald man sighed, "that's settled, I suppose. Mind if I sit?" He sank into one of the armchairs and put the sunglasses over his eyes. They began to emit an electronic whirring noise. "Now let's see…frequency…frequency…"

Kurisu stood still for a few seconds. Then she made up her mind.

"Daru, Mayuri," she said, "stay with Okabe. Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Or him," she added, pointing to the man in the armchair.

"Okay," Mayuri agreed. "He seems nice, though."

"I'll beat him up if he tries anything," Itaru offered.

"As if you could," scoffed the bald sunglassed man. "I won't try anything, though." Then he frowned. "Hang on," he said, turning around in the chair to see Kurisu walking past him, "then where are you going?"

Without reply, Kurisu stepped out of the apartment. This time, she closed the door behind her.